Lifeless Tedium

A friend of mine who ministers to very poor communities in Mexico recently wrote, “Passion without organization produces frivolous fluff but organization without passion leads to lifeless and purposeless tedium.”

This is the time of year many of us pause to plan our future. Will we plan to produce “frivolous fluff”, “purposeless tedium” or something of real and perhaps enduring value?

At times, a clarified vision amounts to “lifeless” words on a page – more stuff to do without much purpose or excitement behind the things to be done. That’s tedium.

Entrepreneurial organizations are one of the few, if not only, places where teams and individuals can choose their path. We get to craft our own futures, taking on causes larger than ourselves. We get to plan in structure and processes to achieve what we want. So, when we have all finished drafting our 3-Year Pictures and 1-Year Plans, we need to challenge ourselves. Have we planned for “lifeless and purposeless tedium” or for something really meaningful we can get excited about and sink our teeth into? If we’re not excited about the path we’ve selected, we need to pick a different one.